Azam Khan does it again with his logic on Taj Mahal: WahAzamWah trends on Twitter

Uttar Pradesh Minister and senior SP leader Azam Khan has done it again. After hitting the headlines last year for using state machinery to find his ’lost buffaloes’, then calling Amit Shah as ‘Gunda No 1’ and comparing Narendra Modi to the big brother of a dog (in the context of Modi’s equally infamous puppy comment) during the Lok Sabha polls, the leader is now in the headlines for saying that the Taj Mahal should be handed over to Wakf board.

According to a PTI report, the Samajwadi Party leader was quoted as saying, “Taj Mahal is a mausoleum and each mausoleum is ‘Wakf’ and comes under the Sunni Central Wakf Board. Taj Mahal is a mausoleum of two Muslims Shahjahan and Mumtaz Mahal. Who they are is not a matter of debate.”

Khan said in a sarcastic note that “the building constructed over the mausoleum is a different matter. If it is a cheap building, then it would be under Waqf Board and if it is an expensive building, generating revenue, then the Indian government will take the money.”

He added, “We want that it should be given to the Sunni Central Waqf Board so that they can create their own system, appoint a Nizam and create opportunities of education from the money generated from it for Muslims.” The SP leader said Taj Mahal can create at least two universities and fund their functioning.

Obviously Azam Khan’s remarks have not gone down too well with the Twitterati and #WahAzamWah was trending on the social media site. The tag is obviously derived from the tag-line “Wah Taj Wah,” which is used by the famous Taj Mahal tea brand in India.

Some of the people on Twitter pointed out that Khan was famous for making such statements, and that instead of the Taj perhaps Khan should be handed over to the Wakf board.

Check out some of reactions on Twitter below:

As far as the Wakf board in Uttar Pradesh is concerned, Azam Khan doesn’t have the best relations with them. In July this year , Shias in Uttar Pradesh asked Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to clear ambiguities in Waqf Board appointments, allegedly been done at the behest of Urban Development and Waqf Minister Azam Khan.

The Shia community was divided over the appointments,with some alleging that Azam Khan was bribed for the appointments he made. “The people being appointed to the board are corrupt and would lead to large scale malpractises,” Kalb-e-Jawwad, a Shia cleric told IANS.

Given the criticism that Khan has attracted on social media for his statement on the Taj shows that he had definitely raised the wrong issue.